Shooting JPEGs is the digital equivalent of Polaroid instant film, that ‘write-on’ instant film. With the Polaroid camera you click the shutter button and it ‘instantly’ spits out a print that develops before your eyes over about 3 minutes. A low quality print is the trade-of for instant gratification, but then that’s all you need for a passport photo. There is no negative for processing another print with adjustments. However, with the ‘write-on’ Polaroid print, you can write, draw, or paint on the photo itself.
When you shoot JPEGs on a digital camera the process is similar… the camera instantly processes the picture which you can ‘write-on’ to make adjustments when editing on the computer. There is no unprocessed ‘negative’ for you to develop, because the camera has thrown it away while making you the JPEG. This, in a nutshell, is why serious photographers shoot RAW and not JPEGs.
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